Business Directories

Dubai mulls tough steps to reduce traffic

Hamburg, February 9, 2014

Dubai will have to take some tough measures to curb the increasing number of cars in the city, a senior official has been quoted as saying.

One of the options being considered is to bring in a rule that restricts car ownership to those earning above a certain monthly income, The National quoted Hussain Lootah, director general of Dubai Municipality, as saying. He was speaking at the Dubai-Hamburg 2014 business forum in Germany.

Other options are to increase parking fees, fuel costs and insurance prices, he said.

“It costs Dh30 [in Germany] to park for half an hour — Dh1 per hour in Dubai,” he said in the report.

He said awareness programmes or carpooling will not work in Dubai since there are more than 200 nationalities in the city.

"Soft [regulations] don’t work any more. Even in Europe and America it doesn’t work. Unless you go hard, no one will obey,” he said.